When Superheroes Get Sick
by VictorianChik
Summary: Diana finds Bruce sick in the Batcave. As she attempts to play nurse, complications arises with him and other heroes and villains. Wonder Woman finds the narrow line to walk between care and firmness, indulgence and no-nonsense, and reward and punishment. Spanking, sexual suggestion, and medical equipment in some chapters.
1. Resistance

The sun was still shining brightly as Diana Prince left the main mall in Gotham and headed towards her car. For once she had taken a day off to do something completely human and completely feminine – go shopping.

She had shopped before, to get things that she couldn't get as Wonder Woman, but that was all practical and not the frivolous shopping she had done today that included long strolls through clothing racks, gazing at jewelry, trying new perfume, eating cookies, talking about getting a new cellphone, and trying on pairs of shoes.

She had spent over three hundred dollars, and she left the mall with her passenger seat stuffed with bags.

It was nice to spend a day away from the Justice League and all their problems. Yes, she would sacrifice everything to save every life she could, but she wanted a break from it. Two days ago, she had claimed she needed to spend time working on her own stuff, and Superman told her to take all the time she needed. Batman had given her a long look under his cowl, but she didn't answer to Batman and she could spend a day having fun even if he couldn't take a break.

But that was Batman for you. He hadn't wanted to join the League, and as soon as they got him to agree to join, he wanted to control everything.

"Power freak," she shook her head as she rolled her window down and let the wind stream over her long dark hair. She had worn human clothes today, but her outfit was tucked in the back in case she needed it.

Of course, she would catch hell from Batman if she stopped a crime in his city. He wouldn't like her shopping in his city either, but he couldn't stop that.

With a wicked quirk of her lips, Diana turned the car in the direction of Wayne Manor. Batman probably wouldn't be there, and she knew Robin was on a training journey with the Teen Titans, but she thought it would be fun to leave a mark to show she had been there.

She might rush around at top speed and mow a giant W into his yard.

When she got there, the place was locked up so she stopped her car outside the closed gate and walked around the edge, towards the secret entrance of the Batcave. The whole Justice League had been there once or twice, but Batman had stood over the place with crossed arms so no one dared touch anything.

"Possessive human," Diana mused as she flew over the water. "He's just mad he can't be the whole Justice League and have us sit around, useless."

She landed on the first floor of the Batcave and she was considering if she could take a small tool or gadget and see if Batman ever missed it when a crash sounded from up above.

In a second, Diana was at the top level, coming to a short stop. "Batman?"

He was leaning over the controls to the main computers, coughing and hacking hard. His mask was off and his cheeks were flushed red and his eyes were blood-shot.

"Bruce?" Diana approached him. "Bruce, are you sick?"

He looked at her, his face spasming in pain too hard to twist in anger. "Diana? What are you doing here? This is my home. Go away."

"You're sick," she reached a hand to feel his forehead.

He batted her away, but his movements didn't have the trained smoothness that she had seen a hundred times before. He almost lost his balance and had to grab onto the edge of the chair.

"Do you have the flu?"

"No," he snapped at her. "I don't get sick."

"No, _I_ don't get sick. Well, not with human sickness. But you're human, and I think you're sick."

"Can't be sick. Got too much to do."

His whole body retched, and he gagged, but didn't throw up.

"Haven't been able to eat anything today," he said. His teeth started to chatter, but he gritted them together stubbornly. "I'm fine. I'll work in the Cave tonight. Go back to the League and tell them no one is allowed in my house again."

"Where's Alfred?" Diana looked at the intercom that connected the Cave with the Manor. "We'll see what he's says."

"He's gone," Bruce tried to stand straight. "He went to Washington to do something for me. I'm fine. I'll drink something and feel better."

Diana reached out and felt his forehead before he could stop her. "You're burning up. You have a fever."

"No, I don't."

"You can't keep going like this. What if you faint?"

He pulled up the side of his lip in his usual sneer. "I don't faint. And even if I did, I would wait until I woke back up and keep working."

"You're going upstairs to bed," Diana decided. "Take off the suit and let's go."

"Get lost," he tried to push past her.

Diana quirked one eyebrow at him. Then, faster than he could see, she swooped in front of him and kicked out, knocking his legs out from under him. Before he could fall, she caught him in midair and held him in her strong, Amazonian arms. Normally, they were pretty evenly matched as his strength and skill was further developed than almost all humans, but now he just stared at her for a second.

"Are you going to bed?"

"Never!" he tried to twist out of her grip.

She laid him on the ground and straddled his chest and began loosening the spiked wrist guards from his hands. She had seen him put them on countless times before, and her nimble fingers pulled them off in seconds.

"Get off me!" Bruce pushed at her knees. He tried to grab her by the waist and fling her off, but he didn't have the strength to do more than fumble his hands over her slim waist and squirm beneath her.

"You're going to bed," Diana pulled the second wrist guard off. "You are weak and sick and burning up and coughing. You can't even knock me off – don't argue, Bruce."

"Get off!" he made a fist and struck the top of her leg, but it glanced off harmlessly.

"You behave or I'll dump you in an ice bath first," she warned.

"I can't breathe," he complained. "I can't move – everything hurts. If you leave, I promise I'll rest some."

"Bruce," she took his strong jaw in her hand and made her look him in the eye, "I'm going to take care of you tonight so you don't hurt yourself. You're part of my team, and you're my friend. No, don't you shake your head. We're friends."

"Colleagues," he was almost pouting.

Diana pursed her lips together. "You have a choice here. You can get up and get undressed and go upstairs without fighting me or I will go get Clark and he will come back with me to take care of you."

"You can't threaten me."

"I don't have to. I know that, given your state, I could take care of you all by myself. But Clark will speed the progress up. And I know you don't want to see him and all his cheerfulness while you're lying here like this. So what's it going to be?"

He started coughing so hard that sweat broke out on his forehead.

Diana rolled off him and gently helped him sit up. He kept coughing, and she put a hand on the back of his sweaty neck to balance him. When he stopped, he was shaking so bad that he barely noticed as she began pulling the Batsuit off his torso. He was wearing his usual white tee shirt underneath with black boxers and socks. She helped him stand to take the last of the suit off.

"Are you going to be too cold to get upstairs?"

"'M Fine," Bruce chattered, his arms wrapped tight around his torso. "This cave is just really cold tonight."

Diana didn't point out that it was no colder than usual; she leaned against Bruce to help him to the lift and he actually put an arm around her as they went. He was warm all over, soaked in sweat, but he couldn't stop shivering in the cold.

Once they got to the bedroom, he didn't complain as she sat him down on the bed, but the moment he got there, he insisted, "All right, I'm in bed. You win. You can go now."

"Right," she quipped. "And as soon as I'll leave, you'll turn the TV on and the computer and try to monitor Gotham from bed until you decide that you can still drive, even with a fever. Where's a medicine cabinet around here?"

"I'm not telling," he said stubbornly.

For a second, Diana was tempted to give into a smile. She would never understand Bruce. He was willing to get bloodied and beaten to help the helpless, to go without sleep or food until the last person was safe, but the moment you told him what to do, he turned as obstinate as a teenager.

"Well, if I can't find stuff to treat humans, I'll have to rely on medical treatment that I use on fellow Amazons. Those are usually for women and of course Amazons, but they might work on a human male."

He sneered again but said, "Next hallway, third door on the right."

"Don't move," she pointed a finger at him.

Three minutes later, she was back with her arms bulging with medical equipment, bottles, and towels.

She put the stuff down on the bedside table and started pulling the covers off the bed.

"Don't baby me," Bruce growled. "I can't stand being babied."

"Yeah, yeah," she pushed him back on the pillows and pulled the sheet and blanket up to his mid-chest, tossing aside the thick comforter for the moment. "Open up," she shook out a thermometer and put it in his mouth.

He looked like he wanted to argue further, but he put his lips around the thermometer.

"I'm surprised you have a glass thermometer," Diana commented as she unwound the cord from around the heating pad and plugged it into the wall. "They make them digital. Kind of old school for you."

Bruce's eyes went wide in indignation. "I don' use un," he said around the thermometer. "Alfed –"

"Are you telling me that if you or Dick get sick, you make Alfred take care of you? He has to do all the work – cleaning the house, fixing the meals, patching you up from crime fighting, _and_ nursing you back to health? By the Goddess, who takes care of Alfred?"

Bruce scowled which wasn't as scary as usual considering he was in bed with a thermometer.

Diana took it out and read it. "102."

"I sweat a lot in the suit."

"And my bracelets weigh me down when I fly," she retorted. "I don't want to hear any more fussing. Lean up and take these pills."

"I won't be able to keep them down."

"You will now that you aren't rushing around."

He took the pills and swallowed them.

"That will help with the fever. Where else do you hurt?"

He paused only a moment before answering, "I'm still cold. My head hurts. I'm a little dizzy. I feel all achy. Jeez, I sound like Dick, whining all over the place."

"Okay, lean up for a second," she helped him sit up and placed a heating pad under his back. She eased him down on it.

Bruce drew a breath of relief, but he stopped himself from making any more noise.

"Does that feel good?" Diana's lips twitched in amusement.

"It's fine."

She rolled her eyes at his stoicism, but she got him to swallow decongestants and antihistamines. He took small sips of water, and she wondered if swallowing hurt and if some of the pain he felt was from dehydration.

"Just a few more minutes," she promised, "then you can go to sleep."

After clicking the heating pad up to medium heat, she moved down the bed and reached under the covers to take his left socked foot. He started in surprise, but she began rubbing, drawing heat with her strong fingers.

"It'll help you warm up." She pushed his foot back and forth, gently popping it and relieving the stress that his hard boots put on his ankles.

At the head of the bed, Bruce had his eyes closed, his body braced against feeling anything.

"Oh, stop it," Diana scolded. "I know you're feeling better. You're allowed to feel better, Bruce. You don't always have to be suffering."

"Yes, I do," his voice cracked slightly.

She reached for his other foot and began working it under her strong fingers, drawing the stress out. "It's just the two of us. There's no League here, no citizens to impress, no criminals to stop. It's us. And I'm going to make you feel better because I care about you."

"Agh," he let out the smallest whimper of acceptance.

She tucked his feet back under the covers and then took up his left hand. His hands were bigger than hers, but she worked them over, massaging firmly and squeezing her hands up his wrists to his elbows.

The tension eased out of him; Bruce seemed to melt into the bed, and he had trouble keeping his eyes open.

"That's it," she encouraged. "I want you to rest."

She paused before going to his other hand and brushed the sweaty hair off his forehead.

Bruce opened his eyes, and she was shocked to see that they were filled with tears. For a stunned second, she looked in them, lost in their liquid blue. Somewhere, beyond the hard man that barked out orders and fought with fierce viciousness was the little boy that had watched his parents die. Those same eyes had seen so much grief, so much pain, so much hardship.

"Oh, Bruce," she caressed the side of his face.

He closed his eyes, and two tears streamed down his face.

"Shh, shh," she sat down on the edge of the bed and raked the hair back from his face.

He gave a low sob, and she took his other hand to start massaging while talking to him in a low voice, "It's okay. You're sick, and you don't feel good. I'm sure no one takes care of you because you don't let them in."

"If I let them in," he wiped his tears away with his free hand, "they get hurt."

"Not all of us are victims you have to save. Who was the last person that helped you when you were sick, other than Alfred? Who was the last person who sat beside you like this and made sure you were okay?"

His face crumbled. "My mom!"

"Oh, baby," she whispered.

"I miss her," he grabbed both her hands weakly. "I miss Dad, too. I miss everyone."

"I know, I know. It's okay to let it out but you're making yourself worse right now."

"I hate feeling this way. I hate feeling so raw and pathetic and stupid and useless."

The tears were quickly giving way to rage, and when he hiccupped, his whole body shook, and he started coughing again.

"Bruce, look at me. Look at me!" Diana put an edge in her voice. "You are not going to turn this in on yourself. You are going to breathe deeply and I'm going to stay here until you fall asleep. We can talk later, but right now your body needs to heal."

"But . . ."

"After you sleep for a while, you can get up and have a bath and something to eat, but for now you're taking a nap."

He hiccupped again and wiped away the last of the tears. She got him to sit up a little and move the heating pad from his low back up between his shoulder blades.

"Oh, that's good," he closed his eyes in relief. "But I shouldn't sleep. Need to go . . . patrol."

She pulled the comforter up over his shoulders, tucking him into the bed with firmness. She saw him resist for a second, fighting against his own body for control. Diana fought against a smile and ran a hand over his dark hair, stroking rhythmically. His eyes fluttered for a few minutes, and then he relaxed into sleep.

She stayed beside him for a few minutes to make sure he was finally down before letting out a heavy breath. Bruce was exhausting sometimes.

"Nothing is easy for you," she murmured as he slept. "Anyone else would have been practical and already gone to bed."

She got up, but he didn't stir. She turned the heating pad off so it wouldn't scald him while he slept. Then she went to raid his bookshelves for something to read while he napped.


	2. Spoilers

AN: Warning for major spoilers to _Murder on the Orient Express_ by Agatha Christie.

Murder mysteries were Diana's favorite Earth reading. She knew they were dark, depressing, full of death, ruthless, but she could not help getting pulled into worlds of fresh bodies, hidden murder weapons, and of course, the great reveal at the end. She loved the thrill that ran through her when she got to the last part, and the murderer was revealed. She rarely tried to guess whodunit; she preferred the mad thrill at the end when the nice, sweet person proved to be a dangerous killer.

She wasn't sure if it was just like being a superhero, but opposite. She posed as a normal person on her off days to hide her superhero persona. The killers posed as normal people to hide their murderous sides. A guilty pleasure of hers, but one she thoroughly enjoyed.

She hid it from the other members of the Justice League, thinking they wouldn't understand or worse might tease her for this base entertainment. Sure, Clark could like his sports, and Bruce his toys, but they would laugh at her mystery reading.

She was halfway through _Murder on the Orient Express_ when Bruce stirred in the bed. He hadn't opened his eyes yet so she reached over with one hand to pat his shoulder.

"There, there," she soothed, not taking her eyes off the page. "Just relax. Go back to sleep. I'm right here."

He coughed, and she wrenched her eyes off the page to glance at him.

He blinked at her. "Are you reading?"

"Yes, I found a book about the history of Gotham and I can't put it down. Why don't you sleep some more?"

"I don't have a history of Gotham here," Bruce frowned. He lifted his head a few inches off the pillow to see what she was reading.

"Good grief, give the detective thing a rest," Diana shoved the book in the corner of the armchair so he couldn't get a proper look. "You've only been asleep a little over an hour."

"I can tell the time, thank you," Bruce snapped back at her.

"Are you going to be in a bad mood?"

"If I was, would you leave?"

"No."

A ghost of a smile flickered across his face, but he didn't reply.

A thud sounded outside the window.

Diana was on her feet, reaching to secure her bracelets and fly outside.

"Don't worry," Bruce was calm. "It's just Selina."

"Catwoman?"

"The one and the same," a voice purred from the balcony.

Catwoman stood in the open doorway, her body arced against the door frame, her green eyes batted from behind her mask.

"Selina Kyle," Diana crossed her arms. "Why aren't you in Arkham?"

"Haven't gotten caught," Catwoman smirked.

"Yet," Bruce said dryly.

"Exactly," she took off her mask, revealing her pale face and dark hair. "Bruce, you look terrible. Almost as bad as Miss Princess here."

"He's sick," Diana ignored the quibble. She would not get caught up in a fight about her looks. That was so important to Earth women – proving one's beauty.

"Well, of course, he is," Selina strode in. "He has been near you. Your space diseases are killing him."

"Lay off her," Bruce coughed. "What's going on in Gotham? Joker under control?"

"He's building another army. Same old same old," Selina shrugged. "Why does Diana get to play doctor with you? That's my job."

"An army?" Bruce sat up and reached for the edge of the covers, groaning slightly.

"Oh, no, you don't," Diana was back by his bed, firmly pushing him down. He struggled, but he was no match for her Amazon strength. "You are not chasing Joker like that. If he gets out of hand, I'll call Clark."

"You call him," Bruce tried to push her hand off, "and I'll quit the League."

"You quit the League and it'll throw off the ratio of humans to aliens. The UN will complain, and we'll have more bureaucratic nonsense. Besides, who would pay for everything? You're too valuable to us to quit."

Bruce eased down, reluctantly nodding at her logic.

Diana kept her calm expression, but inside she was rolling her eyes. Bruce's ego was insufferable sometimes, but shamelessly easy to manipulate.

"Why can't I join the League?" Selina pouted.

"You're a criminal," Diana reached for the thermometer and shook it out. "We don't let criminals in."

"Superman was under arrest before. You've all been on the Most Wanted list at one time or another."

"Not for stealing," Diana inwardly winced at how prim she sounded. She had waged war against monsters of all races and worlds before, yet whenever she tried to make a stand for the good, she came off prudish and overly moralistic. She was not jealous of Selina's looks, but she felt resentful of the villain's open sexuality and coyness.

After all, Diana was standing beside the bed that Selina and Bruce had shared before, the bed where they had laid in naked, heated passion. Diana's cheeks were pink, and she stuck the thermometer in Bruce's mouth and busied herself with tucking the covers over him and straightened the pillow to hide her discomfort.

"That's my job!" Selina was beside her in an instant. "I take care of Bruce."

"Didn't you once beat him up in an alley when he tried to take you to Arkham?"

"Yes, and afterwards I took care of him," Selina insisted.

"Ooo shouldn't –" Bruce tried to say around the thermometer, but Selina shoved against Diana.

"Move over! I belong here. I take care of Bruce, not you."

"Bruce is my team partner and my friend."

"Bruce is my lover and my boyfriend!" Selina nearly stamped her foot. "I'm going to have his baby."

"Huh?" Bruce nearly bit the thermometer in half.

Diana blinked, shocked. "What?"

"Oo're 'egnant?" Bruce's eyes couldn't have been bigger.

"Well, not yet," Selina edged back. "But someday, maybe. One day the condom will break, and boom! A cat-bat baby."

Diana felt her cheeks heat up at the mention of condoms, but Bruce rolled his eyes.

"E're not ha'n a cat-bat baby."

"Be quiet," Diana told him. "You'll break the thermometer and get mercury poisoning."

"If he did, I would save him. I would give my last life, my last drop of cat blood to save him."

"Didn't you let Killer Croc have a go at him while you stole the jewels from the Gotham Museum?" Diana felt more prissy than ever but she pushed on. "You used him as a decoy, a punching bag decoy. If Superman hadn't shown up –"

"Arg!" Bruce put his hands over his ears, his fingertips lying over his sweaty dark hair. His disgruntled expression signified that he resented Clark's help far more than any beating that resulted from Selina's kleptomania.

"Get your priorities straight," Diana scolded him. "And stop talking. I need an accurate read to see if your temperature's dropped any."

"His temperature's my business," Selina tried to reach around Diana, but the Amazon woman easily blocked her. "And I'm the only one who puts things in his mouth."

_It's probably the other way around. _ The thought flashed through Diana's head, and her cheeks burned again. Selina was so close Diana could see the glints of yellow in her green eyes and could smell her hair – rain water and vanilla.

Diana stepped back, gripping the edge of the nightstand behind her for balance. "You – you push me again, and it will be the last thing you do."

"Wow. Threats from her highness? Scary. You don't scare me. I play with the big boys."

"I'm here because Bruce got sick," Diana straightened her shoulders. "I don't know why you came by –"

"Take a guess."

"- but I'm only here as a nurse. I don't fight with villains."

Both Bruce and Selina looked at her in confusion.

"Over men," Diana clarified. Really, sometimes humans were purposefully obtuse.

"Of course you don't," Selina smirked. "Men don't find you desirable."

"But I do know how to nurse people back to health." She took the thermometer out of Bruce's mouth and read it. "It's 101.5. What would you do to bring it down?"

"Give him medicine. Some kind of fever reducer," Selina waved towards the medicine box.

"I already did. He can't have more for another three hours."

The right top of Selina's lip curled up in a sneer for a second. "Put him in an ice bath."

"Is this the Victorian times? That can shock the heart and often raises the fever even more as the body fights against the change in temperature."

Selina's sneer grew more pronounced. "Rub his feet and get the fever down there."

"It isn't scarlet fever. It's a bad cold."

"Well, I don't know," Selina turned away. "He's Batman. He shouldn't get sick like a normal man."

"So superheroes are immune to virus strains?"

"Ooh, look at the smart girl," Selina shook her hands in mock exaggeration. "The smart alien girl who knows all about humans. Everything but the important stuff, like sex."

"When sex cures fevers, I'll consider it. Now get out, Selina."

Diana felt a blaze of triumph when Selina turned away with a huff. Diana couldn't believe that she had gotten the upper hand, not in a place like this. Wonder Woman did her work before committees, senates, world powers. She was in absolute control and force in a fight on the field, standing for justice and righteousness. In an intimate bedroom setting, she was completely out of her league.

Selina flopped down in the armchair, swinging her long legs and heeled boots over one arm.

Bruce's eyes were on the leather-clad vixen. As Diana helped him sit up and drink some water, readjusting the heating pad and flipping it on a low heat, she could sense his attention to the – the slut in the room. Well, fine. She would help him feel better, and then she could escape the embarrassment by flying somewhere and preventing a crime.

Let Bruce be a man and let Selina be a . . . whatever she was. Diana wanted no part of their shenanigans.

"What am I sitting on?" Selina squirmed in her chair and pulled out the novel. "Who's reading _Murder on the Orient Express_?"

"I was," Diana was far past being embarrassed by her reading selection. She settled Bruce back on the pillow and reached for the menthol chest rub. "I'm not done yet so don't –"

"Everyone does it," Selina's eyes glinted with malice. "They all stab the guy while he sleeps, one at a time. They're all connected to the family of the murdered child, but Poirot doesn't find that out until the end."

Diana set down the jar with a clink. She stalked to the desk where she had put her purse, hissing with frustration.

"Selina," Bruce reproved.

The vixen shrugged, smirking gleefully. "Oh, dear, did I spoil it? Such a shame. My loose little tongue spoiled the end of the book for the princess."

Diana wrenched her purse open and removed her golden lasso. She could feel its power throb in her fingers.

"Ooh," Selina stood up defiantly. "You want to fight now. What if we mess up Bruce's precious room?"

"I'm sure she's sorry," Bruce tried to intervene.

"Batman," Diana tightened her bracelets, "let the women talk. Some lines should not be crossed."

Selina leapt through the air, hands open and fingers splaying the nails of her gloves. She looked like an animal, wild and savage.

Diana didn't move, but the second Selina lunged for her face, Diana spun around and kicked out, knocking Selina to the floor in a tumble.

Selina hissed and rolled to all fours. "Watch it, princess. I'll rip shreds in your ugly shirt."

Diana whipped out the lasso and snapped it with precision. The rope stretched, obeying the power of her hands, and wrapped around Selina's shoulders.

The vixen twisted and yanked against it, but Diana was on her, tying her hands behind her back with one end of the rope and tying her feet with the other. Selina screamed and writhed, but she was no match for the fury of the Amazon princess.

Diana flung Selina over one shoulder and marched over to the armchair. She put Selina over the same arm that she had her legs over a moment ago, but now the vixen was facedown with her bent knees in the seat and her body hanging over the arm. Selina tried to get free, but the more she fought, the tighter the rope held her.

"Bruce?" she looked up, her smirk gone and her face full of the agony that would move him to intervene.

He had sat up and reached for the covers when Diana turned and pointed a finger at him.

"You stay right there. Get out of that bed and I'll tie you to it, so help me. Head on the pillow, Batman. That's an order from your princess. Now!"

He froze at her tone, the loudest she had been yet that day. He didn't lie down all the way but it was close enough that she felt he had obeyed enough.

"As for you," she turned to the wriggling woman under her strong hands. Had it been anyone else, Selina could have likely twisted free, but Diana kept her down over the chair arm. It creaked in protest at the power of Selina's struggles, but the state of the furniture was Diana's last concern.

"I've had it with your cattiness, and your rudeness, and your disregard for other people's feelings."

"It was only a book!"

"You did it to hurt my feelings. This isn't your house. No one invited you and you do not attempt to annoy other people when you can't get your way. I'm not going to tell you whether or not to sleep with Bruce because it's none of my business. But you start bothering me, and it's my business."

She lifted her right hand and slapped it down on Selina's squirming backside.

Selina screeched in rage, but Diana looked at Bruce, silently warning him not to get out of bed.

"You bitch!" Selina bellowed. "I'll claw your eyes out."

"And for swearing," Diana spanked her again. "Did no one ever teach you manners? How to act? How to make other people feel comfortable instead of wretched? Maybe this will help you learn to behave. And if not, you deserve all of this, no doubt."

She started swatting, gripping the rope around Selina's torso to keep her still while her other hand unleashed a fury of Amazon strength through carefully-aimed swats. Diana had near perfect aim and she struck right where she meant to – across the round bottom of Catwoman. Every so often she aimed a swat on the vixen's thighs which made Selina scream in protest.

The noises she made did not deter Diana in the least; Selina could scream, swear, threaten, or do anything she liked. Nothing was stopping this spanking until she (Diana) decided to stop.

"Please, please," Selina's voice was full of tears. "You're hurting me. Stop – Ow! Stop hitting me."

"I'm not hitting you," Diana paused, her voice prissier than ever. "What am I doing?"

"Bruce . . ." Selina whined.

Diana shot Bruce a look. He was still in bed, but he leaned towards them, his eyes open and wide, and his face flushed with color that probably had nothing to do with his fear.

"Bruce isn't going to help you," Diana went on. "Answer me or I'll start again."

"You'll kill me!"

"Untrue. Do you know how much punishment the human bottom can take before it sustains serious injury? I do, and you don't want to find out how long I can go before you reach that stage."

"Spanking!" Selina jerked hard against the ropes. "You're spanking me. Stop it and let me up."

Diana released another dozen swats on her leather-covered bottom.

"Oh, ow! Ow, ow, OW! Stop, please. Let me up and I swear I'll leave. I'll go away and I won't come back."

"No one said you had to leave. But I'm done with your attitude and your bratty talking. When we're done here, you're going to apologize to me and then to Bruce. He's sick and you waltz in here, caring only about yourself."

"I care about him," the tears were heavy in Selina's voice. "I do."

"You came here to sleep with him. You'd get what you wanted and then run off, leaving him sick and alone. Is that a nice way to treat someone you claim is your boyfriend?"

"No, no," Selina shook her head. "He's not my boyfriend, not like that. We're . . . we're fuc– um, sex buddies."

Diana swatted her hard twice.

"No, no, stop! I swear I'll never sleep with him again."

"I'm not the moral police," Diana said. "I can't tell you what to do with your own body, but that's because I respect your choices to do what you want. Do you respect my choices to do what I want?"

"Oh, yes, yes," Selina nodded. "I respect everything about you. You're good and pure and I'm wicked and dirty."

"Well, I don't know about that," Diana frowned. "You probably have your nice side. After all, Bruce must see something good in you."

"He does. He thinks he can save me. He wants to rescue me like a white knight. All men want that for us bad girls. We deserve to be punished for being so, so bad."

Diana looked at Bruce who was nearly scarlet with apt attention. Normally, she would be so mortified to be caught in the middle of intense intimacy but now –

"Bruce, hands up where I can see them," Diana ordered. "Don't think you can be bad while I'm here. You fool around and I'll tie your hands to the bedpost."

"Ugh," Bruce flopped back on the pillow, raising his hands in defeat. "I'm going to die for sure. This is the hottest thing that's ever happened in here."

"Oh," Selina slumped her shoulders down as she cried, "not fair. I was the hottest thing in here. Not fair at all."

"Oh, hush," another few swats. "You're still in here. Why does everything always have to be about you? The moment you enter the room, everyone has to look at you, watch you, talk to you. All the sex and the lewd talk and this costume. It might as well be painted on."

She spanked Selina again, but not with as much vigor though the vixen wailed and squirmed in protest.

"Are we done here?" Diana asked.

"Yes, yes! I will do whatever you want. I swear I'll be good. Just let me up."

"I'm going to let you up. Then I'm going to make you stand in the corner for five minutes to think about how you treat people. After that, you're taking that silly outfit off so I can inspect the damage and make sure you're not hurt. I'll rub some cream in and – Bruce! If you don't stop making noises, I'll make that ice bath a reality."

Bruce swallowed hard and nodded though his face stayed red and sweaty. He watched, not blinking, as Diana stood Selina up and untied the rope. The moment she was free, Selina began rubbing her bottom, a few stray tears leaking down as she glanced, almost shyly, at Diana.

"Take the gloves off," Diana held out her hand as Selina pulled them off and handed them over.

Diana hadn't noticed before but Selina was a few inches shorter and for all her worldly knowledge, the vixen was probably a few years younger. Without the arrogance, Selina looked vulnerable and insecure; Diana had an impulse to reach out and hug her.

But firmness was needed. Diana's own mother had taught her that. If punishment was in order, it had to be carried out with determination. Later, tenderness could be showed, but only once punishment was served.

"You're brutal," Selina's voice was soft, more rueful than defiant. "It was just a book. And it's just Bruce. Why don't you punish him? He's always bad about taking care of himself."

"One misbehaving person at a time." Diana led her to the corner. Before she turned away, she put a hand on Selina's shoulder, and the vixen closed her own fingers over them. Diana felt mildly worried about the coldness of her fingers, but then again, she had to take care of one patient at a time.

Bruce looked guilty as Diana came back to the bed. "My hands are up," he lifted them slightly. "But jeez, that was like a porno or –"

"Bruce," Diana cut him off, "not everything is for your enjoyment. You shouldn't enjoy seeing your friend punished."

"She had it coming," he whispered to her as she fussed over him. "You said so."

"I say a lot of things." That made no sense, but Diana wasn't about to lapse back into her discomfort. She could overpower both of them if she needed to. "You've had enough fun for one day, and all this excitement isn't helping you get better. I should have taken her into another room so you could rest."

Bruce opened his mouth to object, but a step sounded out on the balcony.

"Hey, everybody," Superman stepped into the bedroom. "I was just passing over. What's going on?"

Bruce gave a groan. "Yeah, that's all the fun we'll have today."

Diana smiled and stepped towards her teammate, reaching out to welcome him.

Now, it was no longer one against two. Say whatever you want, but Diana and Clark could take on the bat and his cat with no problems.


	3. Breathe

Every time Diana saw Superman, she wanted to smile. He was infectious, happiness exuding from him with his cheerful expression, winsome dimples, and sparking blue eyes. He was just so handsome, and though she wanted to be jealous of Lois Lane for getting to be with such a dashing man, she relished her friendship with him. He was so honest, so fair, so intent on helping others that she loved spending time with him, but she resigned herself to just loving being around him, if not loving him.

She tried to hide her enthusiasm for Superman because the grump on their team, the man currently lying in bed and glaring at Superman, did not have as fond feelings for him. Bruce tolerated Superman, he rarely got in his way, he respected Superman's abilities and intellect, but after that – well, Bruce's current scowl spoke volumes about his feelings.

"Hi, everyone," Superman beamed. "I was just flying over, and I saw you three here –"

"Stop snooping in my house," Bruce tried to sit up, coughing.

Diana put a hand on his shoulder. "Stay still. You'll only make it worse."

Selina whirled out of the corner, her eyes gleaming with leftover tears. "She hit me! And she tied me up!"

"I spanked you," Diana corrected. "And I kept you still with my lasso."

Superman blinked, and for a second, his cheeks flushed pink as he looked from the raven-haired superhero to the raven-haired vixen.

Diana rolled her eyes. "You men are all the same, human or otherwise. Go change before you get all excited like Bruce was."

"I didn't say anything," Superman stammered. "I just didn't know you ladies . . . went in for –"

"Oh, good grief," Diana pushed him towards Bruce's walk-in closet, and Superman went, still trying to explain how he did not find the idea of women spanking each other exciting in the least.

"Liar," Bruce coughed. "And no one invited him in. All of you leave me be."

"Does no one care about me?" Selina almost stomped her foot. "I've been beaten raw, and I was promised attention and comfort if I calmed down. I'm calm!"

"All right," Diana sat on the edge of the bed, keeping one hand near Bruce's ankle in case he tried to get out of bed, "come be comforted."

Selina hurried over and sat beside Diana, easing on one hip and hissing.

"I didn't spank you that hard," Diana pursed her lips. But she put her hand over Selina's ass and began rubbing soothing circles. Selina leaned her torso over Diana's lap, allowing the Amazon princess more access to rub.

Diana's lips quirked, but she held the other woman close and rubbed the bottom under the leather suit, feeling the warmth underneath.

Selina made a soft kitty sound and reached up to take one of Diana's dark curls that hung over her shoulder. Selina twirled the lock of hair around her fore-finger and brushed the twined tress against her cheek, purring.

Diana smiled and placed her free hand over the smaller woman's soft dark hair. Still nuzzling the lock of hair, Selina snuggled against Diana's full breasts, sighing as Diana scratched behind her ears.

It was so cute, Diana thought – the dark, dangerous vixen was just a kitty-cat who wanted to be petted.

Diana glanced up to see if Bruce would think it cute as well.

Bruce was frozen in bed, staring at the two women with his mouth partly open. Clark stood in the doorway of the closet, now dressed in everyday clothes. And he was staring, too, his blue eyes wide. Neither he nor Bruce blinked or seemed to be breathing.

"Hmph," Selina smirked in satisfaction. "Everyone loves us – the princess and the cat." She leaned even further against Diana. "Kiss me and we'll give them both heart-attacks."

Diana gave the men a reproving look, Clark more than Bruce, but she just pressed a chaste kiss into the top of Selina's hair. "There, I've comforted you."

"You said you'd rub cream in," Selina pouted the smallest bit.

"Later, when we won't disturb the boys."

"Oh," Selina looked at both men, "even if they don't watch, they'll still be thinking of it. That's right – me naked while Miss Princess here takes her hand and –"

"Oh my word, I've entered into a porno," Clark finally snapped out of his stupor. "Is this what goes on when I'm not here?"

"Shut up," Bruce said, his eyes fixed on the women even though he blinked with exhaustion.

"I've never done a four-way," Selina smiled. "But I bet I would be good at it."

"That's enough about sex from all of you," Diana said as she righted Selina to a sitting position, ignoring the younger woman's pout. "Clark, Bruce is sick."

"That's her opinion," Bruce frowned.

"And mine," Selina smiled as he glared at her.

Clark studied Bruce for a second. "His heartbeat is up, his temperature is higher than normal, and his lungs are inflamed."

"I should have sold you to Luthor when I had the chance," Bruce groused.

"Ha-ha," Clark smiled good-naturedly.

"I was there," Selina nodded. "Luthor offered Bruce – well, he was Batman at the time – two million for your capture."

"I'm not scared of Lex," Clark continued with his normal cheerfulness.

"Who are you scared of?" Selina's voice was almost a purr.

"Right now, Lois. If she knew what you all were up to – she'd never let me hear the end of it."

"I like Lois," Selina grinned. "She's pretty. I would like to play with her, but in a nice, soft way."

"Anyway," Clark interrupted loudly, "I stopped by to update you on the Justice business. But I can tell you later since –"

"Since I'm here," Selina got up off the bed, stretching out her body until her tight catsuit curved over her form. "Do you think there's any information you have that I couldn't get out of Bruce slowly, cruelly . . . all night long?"

"Okay then," Clark didn't seem to know where to look. "Green Lantern is meeting with the Lanterns for the next week so he'll be out of reach, and the Flash and Green Arrow made it to China safely for the counsel there."

"That is boring," Selina leaped onto the armchair and perched there on all fours. She began grooming herself, catlike, brushing her short hair back from her face.

"I still say I should have gone with them," Diana got up off the bed. "I'm skilled in diplomatic tactics and I know how to reach objectives –"

"You do too much," Clark said quietly. "We're a team and we delegate. Where are _you _going?"

The last bit was directed at Bruce who had made a movement to get out of bed.

"I have intel down in the Cave about the next U.N. meeting. Diana, stop babying me."

"This isn't babying you," Diana tucked him back into the bed with strong hands. "This is just shy of force. I spanked your girlfriend – I have no problem keeping you in bed."

"I'll go get it," Clark offered.

"You stay out of my Cave," Bruce looked murderous. "You step one foot into my Cave –"

"And you'll what? Sell me to Luthor?" Clark snorted. "Be right back."

He left so quickly that he was a blur.

"I like him," Selina paused in her grooming. "He's strong and powerful, much more than you." She smirked at Bruce as she swung off the armchair. "He makes you look like a weak, silly, little – Ow!"

Diana pulled her hand back from where she had popped Selina across the rear. "Be nice."

"Witch," Selina muttered. She got onto the bed, pouting, and settled near Bruce, playing with his hair and soothing it down.

"Don't work him up," Diana warned. Her early discomfort had vanished, and as she put her lasso back in her purse, she couldn't help watching the two of them and admiring the way they looked together. Selina was pretty once you got past her seductive ways, and now she looked innocent and wide-eyed beside Bruce. He seemed glad for her comfort; he closed his eyes and breathed out heavily, exhaustion weighing down on him.

Diana considered her option. She could take Superman back to the League and leave Selina to take care of Bruce. Selina had a cruel streak, but she wasn't malicious, and goodness knows she could manage Bruce when she needed to. It was easy to imagine Selina climbing on top of Bruce to keep him down and make him go to sleep.

A crackling noise filled the quiet room.

Bruce's eyes flew open. "The Cave -"

Diana went to the wall where the static noise snapped through a monitor. "Clark? Clark, are you there?"

"Diana," Clark's voice wheezed. "Diana – I . . . inside me. I can't breathe. I –"

"I'm coming," Diana grabbed her lasso, running towards the door. "Bruce, you stay here."

"Like hell," Bruce struggled with the covers, but Selina slung a leg over his chest.

"She said no, and you don't want me to be mean with you, do you, Bruce?" Selina flexed out her claw menacingly.

Diana ran down to the Cave as fast as she could, half-sprinting, half-flying.

Clark was on the floor when she got there.

Her quick reflexes snapped to attention. There was a broken vial on the floor, and green dust scattered everywhere.

"Clark," Diana crouched by him, and he jerked in her arms as he looked up in terror.

"I can't breathe. Oh, please, I'm – I'm dying."

"Did you get the Kryptonite on you?" Diana pulled him to his feet, her bracelets surging with power. She dragged him towards the elevator.

"Inhaled it," Clark trembled. His face was ashen white and his lips looked dry and rotting. "I breathed it in."

Diana hit the lift button, and he clung to her as they shot upwards.

"This is the end," Clark gasped as she got him out and towards the upstairs staircase. "I'm dying. Tell my mom I love her."

"Clark –"

"Tell Lois I love her. Take care of her for me."

"Clark, you breathed in Kryptonite. It's weakened you, but you're not dying, not yet."

"Everything is numb and dark," tears were in his eyes, and for the first time that Diana had ever seen, he looked weak and scared.

"Yes, it's in your lungs," Diana angled her hips so that she was bearing most of his weight. "But it will work out of your system."

"How do you know?"

"I read Batman's report on toxins," Diana got him to the top of the stairs and turned them towards Bruce's room. "If you inhale it, it goes into your bloodstream. Eventually, your body sweats it out."

"I really think I'm dying!" Clark clung to her.

She dragged him into Bruce's room.

"You!" Clark stared wide-eyed at Bruce. "You did this? You did this to me?"

Bruce had sat up, but his face only registered concern. "What happened?"

"You had Kryptonite down there and I breathed it in."

"I'm doing experiments on it . . ." Bruce trailed off.

Clark swayed dizzily on his feet. "I knew it! You're going to sell me to Luthor!"

"Now, Clark," Diana started, but he shook his head furiously.

"No," he clutched her shoulder as he swayed, "Bruce's always had it in for me, the brooding man with his secret cave and all his special toys! He's poisoned me and he's going to sell me to Luthor and he'll lock me in a prison lined with Kryptonite. I don't want to be locked in a Kryptonite prison. And I don't want be sold to Luthor."

"No one's selling anyone," Diana declared. She looked at Selina. "Help me get him into bed."

"He's not getting into bed with me!" Bruce bellowed as Selina got off the bed and took Clark's other side. "There are fifteen other bedrooms in this house."

"Yes, but there's only one of me," Diana sat Clark on the bed. She started unbuttoning his collar while Selina took off his shoes.

Bruce snarled, but as Clark's wheezing grew hoarser and more ragged, he urged, "Come on, man, just breathe. You can keep breathing."

With Selina's help, Diana stripped Clark down to boxer shorts and an undershirt. By the time she covered him up, he was shivering violently, skin whitish-gray with bloodshot eyes.

"It's okay, it's okay," Diana kept a hand on his forehead. "You just got to keep breathing. You've been infected before, and you survived, didn't you?"

Bruce had scooted over to the edge of the bed, putting about three feet of space between him and Clark, but he looked worried. "Maybe we should call someone."

"Who? We are the people who you call when you're in trouble. He just has to sweat it out. Selina, get me another blanket. Later I'll put him in a steambath, but only once he stops shaking."

Clark's pupils kept dilating, and he couldn't seem to focus on her face. "I was going to marry Lois," he choked out. "We were going to be happy. I don't know about children, but I love her. I _love_ her."

"I believe you," Diana spread the blanket over his quaking form. "She's a very special girl."

"She doesn't care I'm alien. She loves me for me."

"I know, I know," Diana used both hands to press his shoulders into the pillow. He felt so weak under her grip. "You are going to see her soon. Do you want me to call her?"

"She can't come here. She's not supposed to know my secret identity," Bruce said.

Clark glared at him and replied between chattering teeth. "Yes, call her. And I hope she puts your secret identity on the front page of the _Daily Planet_!"

"That's the Kryptonite talking."

"We're supposed to be teammates and you poisoned me."

"You snooped around my Cave."

"There was Kryptonite dust all over the outside of that vial and I dropped it before I realized what was happening to me."

"That's why I'm the detective and you're the brawn of the operation," Bruce smirked.

"I'm going to tear you apart!" Clark jerked in the bed, and Diana pushed on him harder.

"That is enough. One more word out of you, Bruce, and I'll treat you the same as I did Selina."

Bruce pulled his mouth into his Batman scowl, but he stayed quiet.

Selina had stood back with huge eyes, watching Clark. "He's so pale. He keeps shaking. What about someone at Arkham? Scarecrow? Poison Ivy? They would know about toxins. I could blackmail them into helping."

"Blackmail them into helping Superman?" Diana raised an eyebrow.

Selina gave a half-smile. "I have dirt on everyone. I have favors I can call in, blood debts that need to be paid. I'll do it. Clark shouldn't suffer on our behalf, not from what Bruce and I did."

"What you did?"

Selina glanced away. "Who do you think Bruce got to steal the Kryptonite from Luthor? Luthor has so much of it, tons and tons. It is a prison down in his vault."

Clark jerked hard against Diana's hands in panic. "I've got to get out of here. The League – I can hide there. Luthor can't reach me there."

"I promise you," Diana fixed them all with a wrathful look, "if Lex Luthor shows his bald head anywhere around the three of you, I'll be taking care of him, up-close and personal."

"Oh, that's an idea," Selina pointed out. "Luthor can't touch Wonder Woman. I mean, what's he going to do to her? Criticize her looks? We're safe with her."

"Just shut up!" Diana said. "Shut up and let me take care of these men."

Selina gave her a mean look, but she fell still as Clark's breathing started to get raspy. His lips were paling into an ugly green color, and foam was creeping up at the corners of his mouth.

"Selina," Diana's voice was calm and strong, the voice she used to direct the Justice League, "go to the medical closet down the hall, third door on the right. There is an oxygen tank on the floor. Bring it here with the face mask and any tubes you find."

Selina was gone with the speed of a cat, and Diana picked up Clark's unresisting wrist to measure his pulse. It was frantic as the man struggled to draw in air.

"Here," Selina handed her the plastic mask as she placed the oxygen tank on the floor by the bed.

"Thanks," Diana connected the hose ends to the tank and the mask. With speedy knowhow, she twisted the handle at the top of the tank. Air hissed as it blew through the tube, but she tested it first, breathing in the pure oxygen to make sure it functioned correctly.

Clark made a face as she put it over his mouth and looped the elastic bands to the back of his head. He tried to speak, but she shook her head.

"Just breathe the air in." She glanced at Bruce. "Do you have an antibiotic?"

"Yeah, a few," Bruce glanced at the man lying beside him, "but they're in shot form, in vials. And will it even help?"

"I can find it," Selina rushed off again before Diana could finished her answer,

"Kryptonite is infecting him, and antibiotics seem our best bet."

"Here," Selina ran back in, clutching a plastic-sealed syringe and a vial of milky-white liquid, "it's marked penicillin."

"Good enough," Diana grabbed the syringe and ripped the plastic off. She plunged the syringe in the top of the vial and drew out the top smoothly until nearly all the liquid filled the syringe.

"M-m!" Clark shook his head, his blue eyes wide with fear over the edge of the mask.

"If I had time to test human medicines on you, I would," Diana handed the filled syringe to Selina. "But I'm more concerned about the Kryptonite poisoning you. We don't have an antidote yet."

"That's what I was working on," Brue offered, but she ignored him as she yanked the covers back and roughly rolled Clark on his front, careful to not get the oxygen tube crushed.

Clark squirmed underneath her hands, protesting behind the mask, but Diana held him down and tugged down his boxers to reveal the upper part of his pale backside.

"Nice ass," Selina said, nervously holding the syringe, "but is he weak enough for the needle to penetrate his skin?"

Diana looked at her, sharing her concern for a second. But then Diana took the syringe from her hand and jabbed the needle down high into Clark's right hip.

It went through the skin and he groaned in pain into the pillow.

"Don't move," she ordered as she pressed her thumb over the top of the syringe, slowly emptying the milky-white medicine into his body.

Once it was depleted, she pulled it out. Clark shuddered, but kept breathing. Diana reached down to pull up his boxers, but Selina grabbed her hand.

"No, look!"

The skin around the injection skin turned pale, then pink, growing darker and darker. Clark tensed on the bed, whining with pain. He reached back towards the inflamed area, but Diana caught his wrist and pinned his arm to the small of his back, keeping his hand out of the way. The skin was a fiery red, and Clark kept whimpering about how much it hurt.

But then the redness began to fade. It cooled to a soft pink, but the area around the skin, about the size of a tennis ball, shone with a soft creamy green powder.

Diana touched the powder – Clark squirmed at the touch – and she held out her greenish fingertips for Selina to see. "Kryptonite?"

"It looks like it."

"Oxygen is breathed in through the mouth and into the lungs," Diana reasoned. "It hits the bloodstream and is carried throughout the body."

"So Clark has Kryptonite throughout his bloodstream, but the medicine attacked it, and what?" Selina raised her eyebrows. "Expelled it through his skin?"

"It looks like it," Diana took an alcoholic wipe from the medical box and swiped it over Clark's hip, scrubbing the Kryptonite away.

He immediately relaxed, and she watched his back rise and fall as he calmed down. She listened to his breathing, hearing the slight rasp at the end of every third breath.

"There're more antibiotics," Selina picked up the vial, tipping the glass to see the last bit of liquid. "There's several more vials in the closet."

Diana saw Clark shake his head adamantly, and she tried not to smile at his boyish cuteness as she put a hand on his shoulder, feeling him tremble. There was still plenty of Kryptonite inside him.

"We could use some of it," she said. "But not all of it. We should save some for Bruce."

"I don't need any antibiotics."

"Not now. But I know how bad you get beaten up some times."

Diana tried to smirk at the disgruntled expression he wore. "You've never complained, but I've seen your wounds. You have to take care of yourself – we need you."

Gratitude flashed over Bruce's face, and he relaxed the smallest bit on the pillow. Had it just been the two of men, Diana might have sat beside him on the bed and talked in a low voice about their recent fights until Bruce went back to sleep. But now with two heroes down –

"Get two more vials," she told Selina who obeyed immediately. Then Diana leaned down to turn the handle of the oxygen tank, and a hiss of more air covered most of Clark's protests.

The Princess of the Amazons didn't budge as she reached for the empty syringe. Her tribe had been right: men could be children when sick, but sick superheroes were nothing short of babies.


End file.
